The present invention generally relates to an information management, collection, control, and delivery system and more particularly, to a system which is adapted to receive, monitor, process, and deliver content and positioning information to/from selected users at various locations and selected times, such as and without limitation, global, positioning satellite information and which is further adapted to provide and/or dynamically create several applications, each of which, in one non-limiting embodiment of the invention are, respectively, resident upon a unique and separate computer hardware platform, effective to reduce software development and integration costs while concomitantly enhancing the overall reliability of the system and the provided processes and methodologies.
Positioning information, such as global positioning information or Global Position System xe2x80x9cGPSxe2x80x9d type information which is provided by a satellite assembly, is typically received, by one or more ground based receivers and/or by a ground based receiver assembly (e.g., surveyed locations), and is then selectively received, disseminated to or transmitted to a wide variety of individuals and business enterprises at the selected times for use within and/or by a wide variety of applications, including control applications within and/or from a satellite operation center. For example and without limitation, such information may be used to control and track the progress, position, and travel path of aircraft and other selectively movable apparatuses or systems and such information may be used to selectively track the progress, position, and travel path of individuals. Such information may also be used by individuals and operators of various apparatuses to determine a present location or position of an animate and/or inanimate object and to provide useful information to selected users various selected times.
While such positioning information is useful and widely used, it is oftentimes undesirably errant and provides inaccurate position information. Such undesired inaccuracies may be caused from a variety of sources, such as and without limitation, the ground based receiver assembly which initially receives the satellite based and/or generated position signal, destructive interference of the signals, and/or faults occurring within the satellites and/or within the processing assemblies which receive the signals from the ground based receiver.
Knowledge of the error occurring in the provided information allows a user and controller to be warned, in a timely manner, of the inaccurate information, effective to prevent the errant information from causing undesired results.
It is therefore desirable to provide a system and a method for determining the amount of error associated with position information and to reliably and readily disseminate the existence of and/or the amount of the determined error to a wide variety of users of the information in an efficient and timely manner. Other useful information can then also be disseminated to selected users at selected times using the same satellite operation center. These and other non-limiting advantages are provided by the present invention.
It is a first non-limiting advantage of the present invention to provide a system for receiving positioning information, for determining error associated with the received positioning information, and for selectively disseminating the existence and/or the amount of the determined error in an efficient manner to selected users at selected locations and selected times.
It is a second non-limiting advantage of the present invention to provide a system for allowing a user to simulate the performance of an information reception system, effective to allow a user at any location and time to create a positional information acquisition and dissemination system which achieves a desired level of operational performance.
It is a third non-limiting advantage of the present invention to provide a system for receiving certain positional information and for storing and selectively displaying certain information concerning the physical attributes and/or characteristics of a wide variety of facilities, such as and without limitation airports, bus terminals, train stations, boat terminals and/or any other transportation-related structures.
It is a fourth non-limiting advantage of the present invention to provide a system for receiving certain positional information and for determining the error associated with the received information by use of a spectrum analysis optimized for a specific location at a specific time for a specific type of user equipment.
It is a fifth non-limiting advantage of the present invention to receive and disseminate certain positional information and for using the positional information to track the progress of and/or to determine the position of an aircraft and the other aircraft close-by, other apparatus, or other animate or inanimate objects over specific area/locations and at specific times.
It is a sixth non-limiting advantage of the present invention to efficiently calculate and/or determine the existence of available or monitored ionspheric ground points, effective to allow a user of the system of the preferred embodiment of the invention to perform an operational simulation of a positional information acquisition and dissemination system in an efficient manner.
It is a seventh non-limiting advantage of the present invention to provide a positional information acquisition and dissemination system which is adapted to dynamically acquire and disseminate weather information in an efficient and relatively accurate manner to selected users at selected locations and at selected times.
It is an eighth non-limiting advantage of the present invention to provide a computer based positional information acquisition and dissemination system. Such a system is provided and includes a plurality of applications, each of which operatively reside upon a unique hardware platform. One such application may include information about reduced fuel prices from a user which can then be disseminated to selected users at the selected location and selected times.
It is a ninth non-limiting advantage of the present invention to provide a positional information and acquisition system which is adapted to distribute time related information, in an efficient manner to selected users and applications.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a system is provided for receiving certain positional information having certain error, for determining the amount of the certain error, and for selectively disseminating the determined amount of the certain error.
It is tenth non-limiting advantage of the present invention to provide a system for receiving time, velocity, and position information for application to various modes of transportation to enhance operational efficiency and safety.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, an assembly for simulating the operation of a global positioning information acquisition and dissemination system is provided. The system includes several selectively movable satellites and several ground reception stations, the assembly including a controller which operates under stored program control and which receives the position of the ground reception stations and the selectively movable satellites and which utilizes the received information to simulate the operation of the system.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, a method for determining the identity of available ionospheric grid points is provided. The method comprises the steps of selecting ionospheric pierce points; creating cells by use of the ionospheric pierce points; recognizing the corners of each of the created cells; discarding certain of the cells, thereby forming a residual group of cells; and identifying the available ionospheric grid points by use of the residual group of cells.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a method is provided. The method includes the steps of receiving information; determining the amount of error associated with the received information; and displaying the received error.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention and by reference to the following drawings.